Premier League giants Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool are understood to be monitoring the progress of Malaga youngster Jose Luis Zalazar, who is more affectionately known as Kuki, according to reports in The Daily Mail.

The son of former Uruguay star Jose Zalazar, Kuki can play as a centre forward or a secondary striker. The left footed 16 year old has already represented Malaga in friendlies, although he is yet to make his senior team debut for the club in competitive fixtures.

Kuki has also represented Spain at the Under 16 and Under 17 levels.

The teenager signed his first professional contract at the La Liga side last summer itself. He is believed to have a release clause worth £4.4m in his deal with the side, with an additional condition that it would get doubled if he makes his first team debut.

Liverpool are understood to be keeping tabs on the player for quite a while now, with Chelsea also taking a keen interest in landing him at their academy. City, on the other hand, signed Brahim Abdelkader Diaz from Malaga’s academy last year, and they will hope to win the race for Kuki too, this time around.

While it will not be easy for the youngster to turn his back to interests from all the aforementioned Premier League heavyweights, the fact remains that he would have a much better chance to break into the senior first team at Malaga, than he would at any of these English sides in the near future.

You may read about Liverpool entering the race to sign Chelsea star Oscar, here.

You may also read about the Reds being open to the prospect of listening to offers for club flop Tiago Ilori, here.